Brian Bausano, MD, MBA

I’ve had a long path to get here. Like many of you, I found EM in the midst of med school rotations all appealing to me and none appealing to me. It wasn’t until my first EM clerkship that I found my true home in Emergency Medicine. I came to WashU in 2004 as an intern, was elected a chief resident, and became a faculty member here in 2008. I worked all overnights, helped developed the brand new simulation curriculum for the EM residency with the current Vice Chair of Education, Jason Wagner, and was poised to become an Assistant Program Director here.

That’s when my career took a turn. I was offered an opportunity to help found a residency program and be its first every Program Director. So I set off for five years to Mizzou in Columbia, MO. After successfully getting a program up and running, recruiting over 20 faculty members, and graduating the first EM residency class, it was time to return to St. Louis. I also had added three tiny children to my family, which made moving back where my wife and I’s families both live even happier. I was coming home!

When I arrived back to WashU, I started wearing many different hats: Associate Residency Program Director and Director of Faculty Recruitment. When the pandemic hit, I was charged with getting a telehealth service up and running. We also developed an in-person post-discharge clinic to keep people out of the ED and to reduce re-admission rates to run alongside the telehealth on-demand service. That spurned my real pandemic project: getting an MBA and switching gears in my career to Admin/Operations. I was tired of non-clinicians making decisions that impacted the way I thought it best to take care of patients. In clinical operations, I have found joy in working with incredible people to help continue to improve and innovate how we treat patients in the ED. This has culminated in me recently being appointed the Interim Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs for the Department.

One passion that continues to burn brightly through all of my above winding career path is mentoring. I love getting people the job they want. I advise all of our 3^rd year residents in their job search and I have taught contract negotiations, early career pathways, and mid-career changes at all levels. I love to mentor and coach (and be coached).  Let’s grab a cup of coffee or a meal and see if we are a fit for your future. Happy to listen and help in any way I can!